Leaders of China, Taiwan set for historic meeting

Saturday, November 07, 2015 - 01:22

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou will meet face-to-face on Saturday in Singapore, the first such meeting since the Chinese civil war ended in 1949. Nathan Frandino reports.

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It's been 22 years since Taiwan and China sat down together in Singapore for direct talks...the first since the Chinese civil war ended in 1949.
And this weekend, they're back.
Only this time it'll be their presidents doing the talking.
Chinese President Xi Jinping -- seen here with his Singaporean counterpart Tony Tan -- hopes to realize a long held Chinese ambition to reunite Taiwan with China.
Beijing has always claimed Taiwan as its own.
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, meanwhile, has made improving economic links with China a key policy... but it comes as Ma's party struggles in polls ahead of an election scheduled for January.
(SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) TAIWAN'S PRESIDENT, MA YING-JEOU, SAYING:
"We made this decision not because of the next election, but for the happiness of the next generation. Through this Ma-Xi meeting, we hope that the leaders of the countries will move forward and take the first step in the normalization of ties."
But with anti-China sentiment on the rise in Taiwan, analysts say any moves toward normalization would face an uphill battle.